


DTS: Osaka

by soul_coffee



Category: Dir en grey, Sukekiyo (Band)
Genre: Awkward Flirting, Drunken Shenanigans, Fluff and Humor, Friendship, Hijinks & Shenanigans, Light Angst, Partners in Crime, Solving crimes, committing crimes
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-07
Updated: 2021-02-08
Packaged: 2021-03-17 02:28:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 13,215
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29217966
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/soul_coffee/pseuds/soul_coffee
Summary: It’s Valentine’s Day, and then it’s Kyo’s birthday and then it’s Kaoru’s birthday and when it is Kaoru’s birthday everyone is already fit for work again apart from the leader. So they all take some days off to actually enjoy a bit work-free time.Team DTS goes to a crime-and-dine night and Toshiya's first evening with the game duo Die & Shinya leaves a strong impression.Soon, they are to be faced some more hardships like who ripped out one of the strings on the leader's guitar (and how to fix it before he finds out?) and who sent a mysterious box to the studio office with no sender info?- a series of (un)fortunate events -the first chapter can be found in the collectionPINK.7 – chapter 19–
Relationships: Die/Shinya/Toshiya (Dir en grey), Kaoru/Kyo (Dir en grey)
Comments: 4
Kudos: 10





	1. Intro: hooked?

**Author's Note:**

> the first chapter can be found in the collection [ PINK.7 – chapter 19 ](https://archiveofourown.org/works/27608579/chapters/71713779) –  
> 

“It’s just a game night…” Shinya rolled his eyes as he placed his suitcase at the reception, handed over the booking confirmation.  
“But we’re gonna stay here?” Toshiya hissed lowly, shot Die a helpless glance. Die though, only shrugged his shoulder and chuckled: “Suck it up big boy. You didn’t want to be alone, now you get to stick with us!”  
Toshiya let out another displeased grumble but didn’t object any further. That silence ended quite much five minutes later when he realised that there was only one big bed in the room Shinya had booked.  
“Oh my god… and there is only one bed!” Toshiya stared up the ceiling, prayed for a hole to open up beneath his feet and bury him deep in earth’s core for ever confirming to join his bandmates for that game night.  
“Well, that’s what you get for tagging along last second.” Shinya huffed and put the suitcase on the floor, zipped it open. Die didn’t much care as it was a big bed anyway and it wasn’t the first time he and Shinya went on such trips together and shared a bed. They were sleeping anyway, so?  
For some more seconds Toshiya just stood there with his bag and watched his bandmates pulling out diverse stuff and clothes, loads of clothes were tossed on the bed. That was why Shinya had a whole suitcase with for only one night? Would they play some game, who was faster to change clothes? That was, from all five of them, for sure Kaoru who didn’t want to lose time on such a mundane thing and had always been the fastest to get changed in his stage outfits. But he probably was also the one who gave himself the strictest of stares in the mirror and was the most aware of his looks. Not even Kyo was that petty when it came to stage outfit or make up, he usually talked it off as artistic nature when his make up was blurry or not right where he wanted. Though, temper tantrums were also a thing they all experienced over the years.

“You’re going to change?!” Toshiya gasped then as Shinya all of a sudden got up with a stack of clothes and went for the bathroom. Shinya shrugged his shoulder and said it was dine-and-crime so of course he would get changed in something more according.  
Toshiya let out a low groan and mended a frown that was quick to build up between his eyebrows: “Am I underdressed?”  
He was wearing simple fitting trousers out of elegant black fabric, a not to simple white shirt with a long jacket that had some nice stitching on the back and the sleeves. He found it appropriate for this evening, but apparently, it was not quite pleasing: “Yeah.”.  
Both, Shinya and Die, gave his outfit a quick glance and then looked away again. As if Toshiya had some other outfit to change! He only had his pyjamas and night-stuff with him and something fresh and light for tomorrow!  
“Excuse me?!” Toshiya huffed, didn’t know what he should now. Magically let some super fancy outfit appear?

But that was exactly what Shinya did. With a dramatic sigh, Shinya put his own clothes on the free winged chair in the room and went back to the bad where Die already started to look through the things Shinya had brought along.  
“I admit, I had awaited this.” Shinya stated and hushed Die aside, made him wait patiently for his turn, it seemed. So, Shinya was always this prepared and even directed around the people who accompanied him?  
Toshiya huffed amused about his ideas, that Shinya would dress up Die too.  
What, Shinya did. Pulling out some clothes, trousers, skirts, bedazzled tights!; you couldn’t name it, but Shinya had it all.  
Die waited, almost patiently but Toshiya could FEEL him vibrate, ready to make Shinya stop and hand him his outfit choice for their evening. Whatever it was that made Die almost visibly have a meltdown, was ignored by Shinya, dismissed with a fluted “wait.”  
Content over his choices, Shinya lifted up two hangers where he had neatly put together the outfits for both of them he lifted them and gave Toshiya and Die a glance: “Chose.”

Shinya should have said fight. Without second thought Toshiya leaped forward and grabbed for the hanger with the trousers and the jacket before Die could. No way they would see him in a DRESS that Shinya had picked as second outfit and was now up for Die to be worn.  
“No-oh!” Toshiya clicked his tongue and lifted the hanger up as high as he could as Die’s arm stretched out and longed for it. He bumped against Toshiya’s chest with such a force that Toshiya giggled, supported his bandmate with a tight grip around his hips.  
“No-hooo… wear that pretty dress for us!” Toshiya fluted and let his hand wander up a bit, felt the body underneath trembling and jerking forward a last time to grab for the outfit that was clearly Toshiya’s win.  
“It fits you waaaaaays better than me anyway, right, Shin-“ as Toshiya turned around to get an affirmative note from the one who chose those outfits, Shinya pretty much was already occupied by his own outfit choice and was in the bathroom changing.  
Die clicked his tongue and got the other hanger with the dress and whatnot and shot Toshiya a bit of an angry glance and went over to the bathroom to wait until Shinya was ready.

Die had locked himself up in the bathroom for quite some time already. Shinya didn’t much bother, knew that the guitarist could spend endlessly long in there. Whatever he did, it didn’t much change the fact that he looked stunning as always, no matter how much or little make up he applied, if he wore his hair straight or spent hours curling them.  
At some point, Toshiya feared Die would come out the minute when they had to go down in the dining hall and the bassist had no time anymore to change himself. So he more the less changed in front of Shinya, muttered that he shouldn’t look.  
“Nothing I haven’t seen anyway over the years!” Shinya snorted and laid down on the bed, openly stared at Toshiya as he slid off his jacket, winced once more that he should stop staring like this but continued nevertheless.

“When is it gonna start?!” Toshiya asked after sitting idly in the winged chair for some time, watching Shinya play a game on his phone. Toshiya knocked once more, called for Die to speed up.  
“We still got ten minutes, don’t expect him to be ready any minute earlier!” Shinya rolled on his back as much as he rolled his eyes. He should be used to Die taking all his time to perfect his looks, but sometimes…  
The door opened and Die snickered out of the bathroom finally. As always, Shinya looked up only for one second, the image burned itself in his mind before he looked away again, held onto that very first impression as a warm and cosy feeling started to spread in his whole body.  
And as always Toshiya couldn’t stop staring, made Die feel uncomfortable being exposed like this. Not, that the outfit was something he felt uncomfortable wearing. He felt confident wearing it, knew that this was exactly how Shinya wanted him to feel like with choosing those exact things.  
“What?!” Die shot at Toshiya and stepped around, threw his hair back that laid in soft curls he took too long to get into this shape.  
“You look…” Toshiya shook his head and then pursed his lips and smiled as he felt a blush covering his cheeks. Waving him closer, Die walked up, recalled that they were just having a fun evening and Toshiya was a jerk sometimes and couldn’t watch his tongue but also didn’t mean anything in a bad way.  
Die leaned forward as he watched Toshiya’s hand lifting and mending the straps of the dress that weren’t laying neatly. His fingertips were so warm and soft, unlike he had expected from the bassist after so many years of picking the strings and working with his hands.  
“Shinya help me find a word…” Toshiya snickered, tucked the hair out of Die’s face to mend the straps on the other side. Complying fully to be prepped up, Die sank down on Toshiya’s lap, grinned and let him fumble around with everything while Shinya sighed silently and then started by saying: “Beautiful, enticing, interesting, sparkling, charming, dazzling – “  
Die snorted and giggled voicelessly at the words that spilled so freely over the drummer’s lips. Toshiya gasped for air and then let out a laugh too, muttered that those weren’t proper words to describe Die.  
“Lovely!” Shinya spat out, made them laugh even more.  
“Alluring? Seductive! Pretty…” he stressed every word differently, was absolutely aware that none of them was fitting and only making it worse but it entertained them and Die didn’t call for a stop, so he kept reading all the synonyms he had looked up for: “Irresistible, fascinating, nice.”  
“Nice! Yes sure! Oh god, Shin!” Toshiya interrupted him, turned the last necklace and freed it off some entangled hair before he placed his arms around Die’s waist and just held him. Like this, because it felt nice and having Die sit on his lap felt nice too actually. It was a game night, so why not play a bit.  
“What are you even coming up with so many words?!” Die fluted and looked over to him, watched him lift the phone: “Just reading all the different synonyms for ‘attractive’. Isn’t that what you’d be looking for, Toshiya?”  
A silent and almost shameful squeal made it out of Toshiya’s mouth before he pressed his face against Die’s back to hide how much he was blushing right now from that statement.  
“Nooo?!” he tried to defend himself even if ‘attractive’ was pretty much what he had in mind but refrained from saying so to not make it any weird.  
Die snorted and slapped Toshiya softly, then mocked him if he didn’t look attractive in Toshiya’s eyes, clearly wanting to hear it from the bassist. Toshiya nudged his face on Die’s back, poked in his sides to stop his giggling but made it only worse as Die was very ticklish on the sides of his stomach.  
“Maybe you do!” he let out in an angry tone, then squeezed him a last time to let him know that he didn’t mean it in a negative way but never admit it so openly.  
“Oh just say you love me already!” Die groaned and sank further against Toshiya, leaned onto him as if they were an old couple, what made Shinya smile and take up his phone.  
“One picture, for memory’s sake!” He smiled and took a shot, held the grin of his bandmates forever depictured.  
“You gotta join too Shinya-chan!” Die whined and waved at him to also join the photo. So Shinya placed the phone on the bed in a good angle and clicked on the timer before he walked around and kneeled down next to Die who still sat very comfortable on Toshiya’s lap. The phone gave off some clicks and Shinya smiled contently, let them know that they should get ready for the dinner as it was about time already.

At the entry to the dining hall there were already some people waiting in line, getting handed cards and so also the three of them got cards and were led to their table that they joined with another couple around their age. The cards they got were their ‘role’ of the night and as Shinya explained his two companions, they were not allowed to peek at each others cards as Toshiya was about to take a look on Die’s card.  
It was common that the guests had little roles to participate in the game and the real actors quasi were allowed to have some interrupted dinner while taking the lead and building up the scene.  
After taking up the drink orders and an introduction to the evening the opening act ‘happened’ – the owner of the hotel, married, no kids, was shot! They find his corpse at the bar with a shot wound and now have to find who was it before another person gets shot who might have seen the murder happening!

Shinya, knowing how such evenings went on, relaxed even if he had almost no info other than a hint written on his card that he could get one more hint during an encounter at the toilet. He couldn’t say anything even as Toshiya asked who it was.  
“How should he know if he didn’t shoot the hotel owner! That’s the game Totchi!” Die giggled and took up the menu card just as Shinya did.  
“So what are we doing now?!” Toshiya asked and Shinya sighed, felt that this evening would be more fun than he had expected. Toshiya seemed completely taken away right from the start.  
“Order starters and wait if someone says something? We can also discuss… if one of us heard something? Or where we had been at the time when it happened.” Shinya suggested as this was usually how those things were starting.  
“I was taking a shower.” Die stated, ordered some light starters for the three of them as Toshiya seemed much too occupied by two tasks.  
“Bath, sorry… I was in the bathroom!” Die quickly corrected himself as he peeked on his card to make sure.  
“You have this written on your card?” Toshiya whispered ominously, ducked his head. There was nothing written on his card apart from the info which room number his was. Not even if he shared that room or ANYTHING.  
“Duh, yeah.” Die snickered and took a sip from his wine, hummed contently at the sweet taste and handed it over to Toshiya to let him have a taste too.

“Oh, you’re having a date night too! It’s our first time doing this crime-and-dine this year! We get it from friends for Christmas every year!” the woman on their table interrupted and smiled at them. Toshiya, as flustered and silent as he could get, took a second gulp from the wine, hoped that Die would say something, ANYTHING. He didn’t even have a card to look onto for some little bits of conversation. Was this a thing people who attended such events did? Just, got cosy with each other and talk so openly?  
“It’s his first time!” Shinya smiled and Die giggled, shared an almost seemingly loving glance with the drummer. This seemed such a promising night at how quickly Toshiya got hooked up with the whole scene, even if it was about murder.  
“Oh how lovely! Sorry, I am Tara and this is my husband Ben! We’re from Singapore and heard this is one of the best hotels for a crime-and-dine night!” the woman introduced themselves and shook Shinya’s and Die’s hands and then also Toshiya’s who seemed a bit overwhelmed by all these new things.  
“This is Shinya, Toshiya and I am Die! Nice to meet you!” Die smiled back, felt a tug on the side of his dress. Did Toshiya had to pay attention? Were they real guests or part of the staff who played along? Was this real conversation or part of the game?  
“Daisy! What a nice name! It’s a pleasure to meet you!” the woman smiled and waved at the waitress to order some more drinks for her and her husband.  
“Dai-sy?!” Toshiya whispered and gulped, frowned for a second. Die waved it off and giggled: “She probably misunderstood, let’s roll with this, I feel up for it tonight!”  
Shinya snickered a bit too and pursed his lips, was happy that they had so much fun right away.  
Die kept talking about the restaurants they had already visited, would talk with Shinya later about going there as Shinya took some notes and joined their chat. Toshiya kept poking Die’s legs to finally ask if they were ‘playing’ or this was okay and he was so confused and then someone got up and… left for the toilet probably?  
Taking more drastic measurements Toshiya placed his whole hand on Die’s thigh to get his attention and that he quickly got.  
“What IS it!” Die whispered and placed his hand on top of Toshiya’s to push it a tad bit downwards as he was aiming very far upwards.  
“Are we… am I allowed to talk with them?” Toshiya whispered, looked at them suspiciously. They seemed, nice? But what if they were the murderers!  
“Of course! Now relax!” Die giggled and shook his head, leaned back in his chair tilted a bit towards the bassist. Gently he squeezed his hand that was still very comfortably laying on Die’s thigh: “You see the guy with the fedora over there?”  
“The what?” – “Hat, the dude with the dark blue hat.” That Toshiya didn’t even know the name for this kind of hat! And he did fashion, Die shook his head, was amused over that.  
“He seems suspicious to me, can’t say why.” Die clicked his tongue and took up his wine glass.  
“Are you saying this now because it’s written on your card, that you gotta tell me this?” Toshiya whispered, watched that man happily chatting with the others that sat on the table with him.  
“I’m saying this because I got a weird feeling.” Die muttered, watched him too, slid a bit closer to Toshiya: “It’s the hat?” – “Yeah, it’s the hat.” – “How did you call it?” – “Fedora.” – “Right, Fedora-dude is suspicious.”

Of course the man who wore a fedora hat was off. As the starters finally came he went up and didn’t return. One of the waiters found him dead in the hallway where the toilets were. He had no shot wound but some saliva, foam she explained, was dripping over his chin.  
“Poison!” Toshiya smiled as the realisation.  
“Of course poison. Probably something in the drink.” Shinya concluded, got himself a helping of crispy fried vegetables and fresh spring onion.  
“Why not the food?” Die asked, waited for a second to start eating. As if their food was poisoned for real!  
“Takes too long, he left too early from the table after getting their starters.” Shinya concluded, got a nod from Die and Toshiya. Then it hit Toshiya: “I haven’t even watched out for the other tables when they got their food! Oh god, I can’t concentrate on so much going on!”

During the starters they were asked to state a first round of ideas and what they have seen or whatever else was maybe even written on the cards if they had notes. The first people got called out for acting suspicious or being alleged to have committed murder but no real traces. The next question they got confronted with – were there two murderer or was it the work of one? Did they work together if it were two?  
“We’re gonna solve this TONIGHT?” Toshiya asked and ate some soup, watched the other tables chatting lively, even taking notes on papers.  
“Have you never watched CSI or Criminal Minds? Of course we’re gonna solve this tonight.” Shinya laughed and then slid over a paper with a note. He was sure it was only one murderer.  
“Why?” Die asked curiously but he also thought it was only one, didn’t really know why he had this idea.  
Shinya shrugged his shoulder, muttered that it was a feeling for now, he’d look out for something.  
“One of the waitresses? The Fedora-dude was a normal guest.” Toshiya stated, tried to calm himself down. He had watched a few episodes of those crime series but they baffled him how they always found traces and suddenly everything aligned in the last five minutes of the show.  
“Nah, too easy. Could be kitchen personnel too who got him something in the drink. Didn’t he have like… olives in his drink? Could be from the kitchen, and just because the owner got found at the bar, doesn’t mean it was someone of the waiters or waitresses.” Die concluded. He had learned fast to not overlook things or exclude certain groups of people who seemingly didn’t fit into the profile at first.  
“What’s written on your card!” Toshiya grumbled and got suspicious now if Die knew more than he should for a ‘normal’ guest. Die though snickered and lifted his card tentatively and then slid it in the cleavage of the dress, arching an eyebrow.  
“Oh you didn’t…” Toshiya whined and was at loss what he should do now with all the crime and murder going on around them.  
“I very much did, darling!” Die chuckled and occupied himself with the food again, found a great liking in the little sautéed chicken and mushroom skewers.

As the starters were finished and nothing grand happened Shinya excused himself to the toilet and they finally started to state their ideas all together. Toshiya wasn’t any further with his ideas and neither was Die, but he had some feeling.  
That feeling got affirmed as Shinya came back along with a waiter and was wearing a bright red badge.  
“Another victim!” the waiter called out and Shinya was allowed to sit back on his place, got shocked glances from his bandmates. He lifted his card with a dramatic sigh – ‘go to the toilet for answer if you wish to know more’ – and then muttered that he was apparently too nosy.  
“So… you’re dead now?!” Toshiya flinched back, slid his chair a bit away from him.  
“I wanted to play a bit longer.” Shinya put his face in his hands, stared longingly and kind of sad on the table. Quickly Toshiya patted his shoulder and said he would make a pretty corpse at least.  
“How’d you got killed?” Die asked, leaned over.  
“I’m dead! I can’t talk!” Shinya scrunched his nose over that question and made Die laugh out and facepalm himself.

The talks went on, more people started accusing others but no real conclusion were made. Die and Toshiya though had an odd feeling and that included the two other people on their table. The lady, Tara she introduced herself?, was only wearing one glove and of course Die would NEVER ask a lady something about her style if she chose to go out like this. And what if she had a scar or something very hurtful underneath that she wanted to cover to have a nice evening without stares? No way.  
But Toshiya… maybe if he could get Toshiya into asking her?  
“Hey Totchi… can you ask her about the glove? Why she’s only wearing one? Can tell her I asked because it looks nice or something like that, figure out a little lie, I gotta go to the bathroom real fast!” and with that Die got up and was almost about to go but Toshiya held him back, wrapped his arm around Die’s waist and pulled him back, stared at him helplessly: “Don’t leave me! Are you gonna die too?”  
Die snorted and shook his head and leaned forward to press a soothing kiss on Toshiya’s forehead before he whispered: “I seriously need to take a piss.”  
Toshiya’s jaw worked, as pretty and polished Die looked today, he still could talk like some dirty construction worker.  
Tara, pretty much also excused herself to the toilet and giggled along Die as she followed him. Die threw a last hopeful glance back to Toshiya and had to, well… follow Tara to the ladies bathroom?

“Um, Ben, right?” Toshiya put on a soft smile, had downed enough wine at least to take the chance and do what Die had requested. Maybe it was a good chance to ask Tara’s husband and Die would ask Tara himself?  
“My… uh, Daisy was wondering about Tara’s glove.” Toshiya bit his lip, how should he make it seem as if he was casually talking and not INVESITGATING them because it pretty much felt like an investigation.  
Ben nodded and arched his eyebrows. Sure, it looked odd to only wear one, they had already waited for the moment someone from their table would ask. That it took them so long…  
“You know how ladies can be!” Toshiya rolled his eyes and hoped that Die gave off a good and real lady. Ben giggled and leaned over the table: “Don’t tell me! We’ve been married for 15 years already!”  
“24!” Shinya threw in and pointed at Toshiya, what made the bassist giggle and shush him up, recalled that he was dead actually.  
“That long already!” Ben stuttered for a second and Toshiya smiled, bit his lip before he said that they sure had been young back then. Back then, when they started out as Diru, for real and forever – Toshiya saw no chance of ever changing this and he didn’t want to change anything about that, it was perfect as it was – they were young but they knew. Maybe it wasn’t love, but it were a feeling they shared mutually that made them stick together and grow mould.  
“I mean like… is it her style to only wear one? Or some… nasty scratch? Sorry to ask so bluntly, but if Die-sy would… eh, she’s of curious nature!”  
What was he doing here actually! Even Shinya giggled already and kicked his foot against Toshiya’s leg.  
“Actually I don’t know. She packed both gloves but only put on one? We wanted to go here a bit more fancy and I think that’s very appropriate to sit with you…!” Ben gestured towards Shinya and Toshiya who wore such elegant and fine clothing, practically complimented them.  
“Oh so… just like that?” Toshiya shrugged his shoulder and Ben nodded: “Just like that. That’s how our ladies are, right?”

“Left or right hander?” Toshiya leaned back, watched Tara sipping on her wine and laughing with Die as if they had the time of their life in the bathroom. Did they do drugs? Was that, why ladies always went to the toilet together? Did they apply lipstick on each other? Die had apparently re-applied some, smelled like… fruit? Did Tara offer him perfume?  
“What?” Shinya asked and leaned towards Toshiya who drummed on the edge of the table with his fingers and repeated: “Is Tara right of left hander? She wrote something down before.”  
“Duh, I’m dead, you said yourself!” Shinya grinned and finally got on some thought train.  
“Dude, give me some memory support. I watched her, but I can’t recall!” Toshiya whined and drummed some more. Shinya imitated him and grinned: “Then ya gotta make use of that big brain of yours!”  
“Yamo-chaaaan….!” Toshiya whined, drummed some more and then looked down to Shinya’s fingers. He drummed with the left hand only and then grinned: “I can’t tell!”

“Die…. Die!” Toshiya bugged, got no attention again. For a second he thought, then rand his hand over Die’s back, skin on skin, and finally got all the attention he needed, let his hand rest on Die’s back and leaned over.  
“What is it?!” Die whispered, felt much too flustered as Toshiya leaned over so close to make it seem as if they really were married. Die’s fingers fisted in his dress as Toshiya tilted his head even more and pressed a cautious kiss on his cheek: “We’re married for 24 years already, right.”  
“Huh?” Die needed a moment, then grinned and shut his eyes close, bumped his cheek against Toshiya’s nose.  
“Your husband has an idea.” He snickered and told Die that he suspected Tara of the murders.  
“And how?”  
“Not fully sure yet. Her glove, she only put that one on Ben said. When you shoot someone it leaves gunpowder on your fingers or hand. Aaaand she’s left hander, so she shot with the left hand and disposed of the glove.” – “Okay but what if she’s left hander and shot with the right hand because of that and now is HIDING any remnants of gunpowder on her right hand?”  
For a moment Toshiya stared at Die – how brilliant!  
“I guess I love you!” Toshiya giggled and then blushed and turned away again as their main course was served.  
“It doesn’t explain how she got the Fedora-guy, how could she get him to drink something poisoned?” Die asked then, made Toshiya frown. He had completely forgotten about that murder!  
“Hey, I’m not dead over here!” Shinya leaned over and wanted to know what was going on. Die frowned: “And Shinya, how did you die?”  
Maybe Tara wasn’t the murderer?  
At least, for now they were looking forward to their main course! Toshiya and Die got themselves steak while Shinya got a hotpot with sea-bream.  
And Tara and Ben? Ben had a vegetable pot with diverse sauces and Tara had ordered an exclusive plate of grilled prawns.  
“Oh that looks good! Now I kinda want scampi too. Gonna go and make some tomorrow.” Toshiya moaned as he saw Tara’s plate.  
“Would you like one? I can’t eat all of them anyway!” Tara offered happily but before Toshiya could already snap one he got a bump from Die on his knee.  
“Uh no thanks!” Toshiya refrained and then shot Die an asking glance. Maybe DIE wanted one?  
“Daisy, would you want one?” Tara offered now and Die smiled contently. Of course she wouldn’t ask Shinya and not because he had seafood already on his own plate but because he was dead. And so Tara put one on Die’s plate and Die smiled contently as SHE picked one.  
“Keep track, I’m sure I’ll be dead in a second.” Die whispered and thanked her but then faced another problem. It wasn’t peeled!  
“Tooooshiya…. Mind, help?” Die groaned lowly and pointed at the prawn.  
“My god, you’re 46 and still a child!” Toshiya giggled lowly and started to peel off the shell.  
“Thank youuu!” Die giggled and pressed a peck on Toshiya’s cheek. One, that he truly meant because he did in fact like the taste of them but peeling them… eh, he’d rather change all strings of his AND Kaoru’s guitars before he’d peel one of those.

Poison, there it was. Not even five minutes later a waiter walked up to Die and asked him to stand up. The waiter, a player of course, told a little story of how Die started shaking and fell off the chair. Toshiya, taken, threw his hand on his chest, wept jokingly ‘my beloved!’ and then laughed along with Die who laid down on the floor dramatically to give his act a bit more pep.  
And then, everyone went back to eating, or something like this, whatever one did when a murder happened in the middle of their dinner. Toshiya held open his arm for Die to grab and he very ungracefully got up on the chair again, got a red badge like Shinya and was allowed to take on eating again.  
“So then?!” Die grinned, looked over to Toshiya: “Are you gonna avenge my death?”  
Toshiya giggled and then asked Shinya if it was okay to ask the moderator of the evening because he had some idea and didn’t want to eat all alone without sharing his suspicion with anyone.  
“This calls for Vendetta.” Toshiya huffed and then got up as the moderator walked up and said one of the hotel guests wanted to make an announcement.

Dramatically Toshiya put his hand on Die’s shoulder and wept, that his beloved one was taken away in a cruel act of poisoning and it was no one else than the woman on their very table!  
Tara, very much taken aback, shouted out how he dared to accuse her of this.  
“You, lady, picked the poisoned prawn!” Toshiya grinned and earned a nod from Shinya and Die, then went on: “Not sure about the glove, but you shot the hotel owner and either you’re hiding the gunpowder by wearing a glove or got disposed of the other one.”  
“That are some strong accusations! And what about Mister Akamo and your companion Shinya-san?” Tara shot back.  
“The Fedora-dude!” Die reminded Toshiya.  
“There was poison in Die’s food and his drink, this has to somehow have a connection.” Toshiya stated, and then added: “About Shinya-chan, I’m not sure? Maybe you set someone up at the toilet? Maybe some crime partner like the waitress?”  
Good points.  
“Well, I think, there is no way around this now…” Tara sighed and admitted the murders and to have help from a waitress who also got heartbroken by the hotel owner with whom Tara wanted to run away and live happily. But he didn’t want her, so she murdered him. The guests applauded, shouted that this was an amazing trace and how Toshiya could track this all down like this.  
“But! I have to correct you. The waitress who killed Shinya-san feared he’d find out about my affair and helped me conceal my crime before someone would find out, like Mister Akamo whom I was sure saw me killing the hotel owner.”

“And who is Ben to you?!” Shinya asked now and Ben laughed that they were siblings in real life.  
“I would have had to kill him next to run away with the hotel owner, sorry babe!” Tara laughed some more and seemed much more relaxed and put off the glove.  
“They asked about the glove!” Ben grinned then, leaned back too and enjoyed some drinks, nodded to Toshiya that he was very attentive.  
“Don’t worry, he’s not always like this!” Die waved it off and got a poke in his ribs immediately on that comment: “What does that mean now?”  
Die but shrugged his shoulder and put some potato wedges on the fork and took on eating, now that the case was closed.

After some more drinks and lights chats, Shinya being very talkative now with Ben and Tara and exchanging even more stories from older events like this and how it was to apply for doing this and if they had some training or worked for the theatre, they decided to play some board games or anything else Shinya had brought along up in their room. To have a bit more fun and keep their open atmosphere, Die got some more wine and glasses from the bar and they just sat down on the hotel floor as it had carpet flooring anyway and seemed freshly cleaned. And even if not, for that they already had that one sip too much.

“Okay, as you are the only one who managed to keep alive, I propose that I play with Die and you have to survive alone one more time.” Shinya giggled and sat down on the floor prepared the board and the figurines while Die filled their glasses. Toshiya whined first but then mocked, that maybe they’d manage to survive longer if they’d join forces.  
“Am I allowed to get out of the dress now?” Die asked before he took a seat but got a quick no from both men.  
“Cruel!” Die cawed and laid down on his stomach and there fell out the card that he had put in his cleavage before.  
“Uh, what was written on it actually?” Toshiya asked and took it up, but there was no much info other than that he was bathing before dressing up for dinner and that he shouldn’t order seafood.  
“They sure had some premonition that you fail at eating crab!” Toshiya chuckled and leaned forward, looked at the board and the figurines Shinya had neatly put up.  
“Oh shut up!” and there flew a little figurine and Shinya let out a displeased sound while Toshiya turned around and got the figurine back on its place again to get started.

After dying pretty much ten times in a row Toshiya stated that he didn’t like that game and he wanted to play with Die who seemed to be a pro at this game.  
“Luck!” Die grinned contently and then said, as winner he takes his price and would change in his pyjama now.  
“You shall be exceptionally authorised!” Shinya fluted and packed up the game.  
“You got other games too here? It’s not that late and I want to win at least one last time after those flakes!” Toshiya whined and got handed the bag with the other games Shinya had.  
“This one looks nice?” Toshiya lifted up a pack of cards that was colourful and didn’t have a long description on the backside.  
“Ugh…” Shinya scrunched his nose and pulled his knees up to his chest: “That one I lose all the time. I’ll keep Die for this!”  
“Unfair!” Toshiya pouted but didn’t much mind as Die came back from the bathroom, all washed and dressed cosily in his Mickey Mouse pyjamas.  
“You play with Toshiya, I’ll watch you.” Shinya gestured to Toshiya and the game and Die nodded eagerly, liked this one but they never played it when they spent an evening doing light games. It didn’t happen often but the more both men enjoyed this and now they got Toshiya hooked up on this too.  
With a grin on his lips Die shuffled the cards and got some for him, placed himself behind Shinya and wrapped his arms around the small drummer so he could see the cards in his hands.  
“Good pick?” Die asked, got his legs in some weird kind of cross-legged position and then leaned his chin on Shinya’s shoulder, peeked over him to the cards.  
“Not bad I’d say.” Shinya muttered, had no idea if those were good for a start. Die sighed, nuzzled his face closer to Shinya’s and shifted the cards a bit, slid one up with his thumb: “How about this as start?”  
Suspiciously Shinya took the card and placed it between them and Toshiya who also tried to pick a starting card.  
“I didn’t know I’d need to use my brain so much tonight!” Toshiya moaned as he finally decided on one and got quickly beaten by Die lifting the next and Shinya placing it on the little staple.  
“I think I like this game.” Shinya admitted softly after some time and only got a pout back from Toshiya who called him out that he only liked it because Die was cuddling him.  
“You’re just jealous big boy.” Die fluted and laid a last card on the staple, won the game.  
“Unfair, as I said! You got Yamo-chan AND won the game.” Toshiya pouted and packed up the cards.  
“Then, come and join, let’s watch some movie!” Die proposed and slid back with Shinya between his legs, pulled them against the end of the bed to lean back. Toshiya clicked his tongue but didn’t complain, rather comply as he leaned back too and then rested his head on Die’s shoulder, got an immediate peck on his head.  
Shinya chose some light movie, an old one they knew anyway so no need to concentrate a lot and that just about right as Die felt the warmth of those two bodies lulling him into some sleep.  
Toshiya couldn’t help smiling as he saw Die giving his best to stay awake and failing.  
“You falling asleep already?” Toshiya muttered, woke Die up, who frowned and then denied, lulled that he was super awake. Shinya chuckled too, looked over to them and then sighed blissfully and leaned against Die’s shoulder, rested his eyes too.  
“Are ya both falling asleep now!” Toshiya mocked them and got up, decided it was probably good to move a level upwards and lay down in bed.  
“Don’t goooo now!” Die whined and held onto Toshiya, made him sit back and rest his chin on Die’s shoulder.  
“How long you plan on sitting here, holding back sleeping?” Toshiya snorted. Shinya was a bit more responsible and got up now, even against Die’s muttered complains, and left for the bathroom to change and get his teeth brushed too.  
“Two more minutes!” Die lulled like the sleepdrunk he was, made Toshiya giggle and press a kiss on his cheek: “Yeah sure.”  
“Yeah! Sure!” Die gave back, nuzzled his face against Toshiya, hoping for another soft kiss on his cheek. But he got none so he frowned and turned his face: “Kiss me…”  
“What?” Toshiya looked back at him from the screen. Die frowned, pointed on his cheek, repeated his wish: “Kiss me.”  
And so Toshiya did, placed another kiss on Die’s cheek, made him smile.  
As Shinya came out of the bathroom Die held open his arms and demanded that he should lean down and as he did, Die pressed a peck on Shinya’s cheek.  
“Let’s go to bed!” Die sighed and then: “Lift me up.”  
Shinya snorted and jumped up on the mattress, slid underneath the blanket, let this task for Toshiya to fulfil.  
“You demand a lot for a dead man!” Toshiya shook his head but complied and lifted Die up, got him next to Shinya. The drummer held open the blanket, ready to tug him underneath so Toshiya could get ready too.

As Toshiya came back he spotted Shinya cosily nuzzled against Die’s chest, Die laying on his back, arm stretched out for Toshiya to join in the same way apparently. Not really caring much, he lifted the blanket on the other side of Die and slid closer to them, felt Die’s arm wrapping around him immediately.  
“I thought you wouldn’t come back.” Die muttered, ran his hand up Toshiya’s back to draw him closer.  
“I’m right here.” Toshiya muttered, stroked some hair out of Die’s face and then out of Shinya’s too.  
“We should do this again soon.” Toshiya admitted, had really had fun tonight even if it was all so new and costed him a lot energies from all those new impressions and for being left as only survivor in the end.  
“Absolutely! It was wonderful.” Die sighed, put a kiss on Shinya’s head and then on Toshiya’s head. This was all he needed and wanted and as he felt another soft kiss on his cheek, he finally gave in and let himself drift off in some well deserved sleep.

*

PREVIEW  
Up next: [ The Two Towers ]  
Kaoru and Kyo don’t want to celebrate their birthdays, team DTS wants to eat cake, and why not make a birthday cake for the two pillars of the band, so everyone is happy, right? On their mission to bake The Perfect Birthday Cake ™ team DTS faces obstacles of until yet unknown extent. And the biggest challenge of all: will the cake taste good in the end?


	2. The Two Towers

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> On the mission to create The Best ™ birthday cake for Kyo and Kaoru, team DTS joins forces once again but is soon faced with a lot more problems than they had anticipated. Where did the eggs go, that Toshiya had bought? And who will make the prettiest marzipan flowers for decorating the cake?  
> And then, the unstoppable force clashes with the immovable object.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> as the first chapter was just a quasi re-posting of the chapter from the collection PINK.7 - here's some more mischief ;)

“Alright, we got everything so far?” Toshiya sighed and was ready to leave for the check-out. Shinya looked down on his shopping list, was not even half-way through what the recipe said.  
“We still need marzipan and almond splinters.” He redirected their shopping cart again in the other direction, bumped into Die. Shinya glared at him as he clearly stood in the drummer’s way: “We’re wasting time, move!”  
Rolling his eyes, Die stepped aside and let the package of raisins slide into the cart but was quickly interrupted by Shinya: “Raisins? I requested sultanas! There’s a difference!”  
“There won’t be a difference anymore if we let them soak in rum so finish up!” Die hissed back, had been running around the store for too long only to bug a staff if they could check their stock for sultanas.  
“Ugh, you are impossible!” Shinya groaned and walked up to the aisle with the nuts and other bakery stuff only to find – nothing. There was no single package of ANY kind of nuts there.  
“That’s a joke.” Shinya spat out and put his hands to his hips, stared at the shelf as if this would make a package of almond splinters magically appear.  
“And now?” Toshiya asked, wanted to finally leave and get the baking session done. That he had AGREED on that even!  
But, Toshiya also knew that Die needed supervision when it came to alcohol and Shinya would probably kill their guitarist if he burnt the cake so Toshiya made it his mission to keep track of both men while they would make a birthday cake for their leader and their vocalist. At least, Toshiya was glad they had their birthdays so close so one cake was just enough for them.  
“Now! We’re gonna pay and get to another store. We can’t do the cake without proper decoration!” Shinya grumbled, was absolutely disappointed and angry and it was late actually because coordinating his bandmates in the store was taking longer than actually getting all things from his list if he’d been alone.  
“Shouldn’t we… split up? Would make it faster. The icing can get done already and cool down, same as the cake itself.” Die proposed and got a quick nod from Shinya and then: “At least one of us uses his brain!”

“You just called yourself stupid, ya know?” Toshiya snickered as they loaded the bags in the trunk of his car and got in to drive to Shinya’s apartment.  
“What?” Shinya hissed and directed the bassist on the street while Die idly sat in the back and stared out of the window. He’d need some alcohol before starting to cook!  
“You said that Die’s the only one of us who uses his brain.” Toshiya laughed and sped up. If he would have to check on other stores for the rest of the things, then he’d better hurry before the shops would close and he would have to face an angry drummer. Shinya had too much force and stamina and would for sure beat him with the cooking spoon or the whisk if he’d mess up this task.  
“I do what?!” Die asked as he heard his name and looked up to his bandmates.  
“Nevermind…” Toshiya sighed and concentrated on the street again, had to take a harsh break as the lights were a bit of cherry-green already.  
“I saw that.” Shinya murmured and stared off to the side again, bit his lip. Everything would be in time, no need to get this stressed. Then he’d let the cleaning lady come tomorrow if the kitchen was a mess after their cooking session, Shinya didn’t mind.

As they finally arrived at Shinya’s, Die was quick to unload the bags and send the bassist off again to gather marzipan, other candy stuff he’d find, the almond splitters, and, as Shinya was already up at the front door unlocking it, Die plead to bring some alcohol too for later. They’d both need it, he added and jumped up the stairs quickly before Shinya would call for him.

D-S, at the kitchen:  
Shinya started off to move the empty cups and plates in the dishwasher to provide enough space for making the batter. They wanted to make it rainbow coloured so they’d mess around with a few bowls, the batter and some food colouring. Nothing bad, just, a lot of dirty cups and bowls.  
As Shinya handed Die an apron, he couldn’t hold back a soft giggle, seeing the guitarist in his black jeans and a ripped old bandshirt wearing a cute white apron, perfectly ironed with ruffles and lace over it.  
“Fits me, yeah?” Die mocked, threw his hair back dramatically as he felt Shinya’s glance flowing over his body.  
“Yeah, does!” Shinya unapologetically approved of his look. Die clicked his tongue at his failed attempt, hadn’t expected a compliment back. Toshiya would for sure had a good laugh by now already, seeing his two bandmates in cute aprons and pink fuffly house shoes wielding whisks and spoons.

Die felt like a knight! The knight of the kitchen with his ranger Shinya, who always offered a helping hand, supporting him with holding the bowls and giving him spoons, holding spoons, giving him the whisk, washing another cup, cracking open eggs –  
Cracking open eggs -where were the eggs Die needed for the batter?  
“What is it?” Shinya asked, looked up from preparing the baking forms with butter and sugar so the batter wouldn’t stick to the form.  
“Did you put the eggs in the fridge?” Die huffed and went over to the fridge, was sure they had left everything out on the counter as they needed it anyway soon.  
“No? They should be…we… we bought them, they should be in a bag here.” Shinya frowned and got up now too. He KNEW the cashier slid the box of eggs over the scanning device. He put this box in the bag and took the bag and put it in the car and the car was –  
The car was moving, Toshiya was driving that car and not near them anymore. Hopefully, kind of, but that was rather suboptimal right now.  
“Tsk, shit. D’you have eggs here?” Die groaned and wiped over his forehead with the back of his hand. He was full with flour already as he watched Shinya shifting all their groceries from one end of the counter to the other and back again, checking with the shopping list.  
“No, sorry.” Shinya muttered between gritted teeth. That was not how it should be going.

T, at the baking products aisle:  
“Yeah?” Toshiya sighed in the phone, had just arrived here. The second store. The other one had no baking things, zero, nada, absolutely nothing other than pre-packed ready cakes.  
“Check on the eggs!” Die’s voice echoed through the phone and made Toshiya flinch back immediately. Why should he check on the eggs? HIS? Here? Right here in the store? Uncomfortable looking down his pants, Toshiya arched an eyebrow and then tilted forward if no one was watching before he gave his ‘eggs’ a firm and quick squeeze.  
“All there, both are fine and where they should be.” Toshiya whispered in the phone walked back and forth again to find this damned package of almond splitters. And if Kyo was allergic to nuts he’d throw this cake out of the window…  
“What?! – Give – give me the- phone- Toshiya – eggs – bag – car.” Toshiya heard both men apparently fighting over the phone until he heard screeching, then: “IT’S FULL OF BUTTER NOW!”  
“Are you guys alright?” Toshiya dared to ask, finally found the cursed package of almonds, sighed heavy and took it to finally go to the check out and return to them.  
“Check if the eggs! The BAG with the eggs is still in the car!” Die blurted into the phone and finally it clicked and Toshiya groaned loudly, confirmed he’d check where it went missing. Die was right with the alcohol, they all needed some.

D-S, at the balcony:  
After another half an hour had passed, Toshiya having written them, that the bag was still in the car and he’d be back asap, Die and Shinya had taken a drink and sat down in little conservatory-balcony. Die kept reassuring Shinya, that they’d soon be able to take on baking again, there was probably a lot of traffic around that time. Shinya had stressed already, put the prepared forms into the fridge before the butter and sugar coating would melt off. Of course it had been a bad idea to split, he should have known! Now, all they could do was wait and wait and wait.  
At some point, Shinya was as bitter as the gin Die had gotten himself a good helping of, that he didn’t even hear the bell ringing, announcing Toshiya’s return.  
“It’s LATE.” And with that Toshiya was allowed to enter the flat. With a dismissive glare, Shinya put another pair of house shoes in front of the bassist and handed him an apron. And with that Toshiya was allowed to enter the kitchen.

KK, at the bathroom:  
“Bless you!” Kyo laughed, had said this for probably the tenth time this evening. Kaoru cursed, rubbed over his face another time and got the shampoo out of his hair, the water flushing over his head and back.  
“I swear, there’s something going on that I don’t like.” Kaoru grumbled, finally turned off the water stream and pulled on the towel to get out of the shower. With a smug grin Kyo greeted him, was still undressed, only his towel wrapped around the hips.  
“Hmm… I wonder who’s thinking about you this late at night…!” Kyo mocked him, knew how much Kaoru hated this kind of talk. The only person allowed to bug him like this was Kyo. But sometimes, Kaoru FELT that his bandmates were up to some mischief.  
Kaoru rolled his eyes, was ready for some more mockery. He’d just let Kyo have it this time, rubbed his hair in the towel and tossed it over the shower wall to dry.  
“A fangirl?” Kyo fluted, placed a hand on Kaoru’s chest, traced down the tattoo, tilted his head: “She’s chatting with her best friend, how good your tattoos look, and that you never show them.”  
Kaoru pouted, was aware that he started to kind of hide them. It came over the past years, that he was just feeling cold on stage and then caught a really bad flu and then, he stuck to keeping dressed up a bit more, didn’t mind to show off the exclusive fabrics of the outfits their designer duo did for them.  
Kyo placed his other hand on Kaoru’s hip, drew him closer and whispered in a high-pitched voice: “Have you seen this stream? Where the collar of his shirt revealed the tattoo!”  
Kaoru pursed his lips some more, had to hold back chuckling. How stupid, there were enough pictures and videos of him showing off his tattoos. And he had a feature in the tattoo magazine anyway.  
Imitating the fangirl chat some more, Kyo sighed dramatically: “I knooow, it slipped over and you could see his collarbone!”  
Kaoru groaned loudly and threw his head to the side, scolded Kyo that he’d get dressed now. And with that he turned around, offered Kyo a last glance on his blank back side.  
“Can I undress you later again? Is that like some… kind of game?” Kyo shouted, leaned back against the sink and watched Kaoru walking off to their bedroom.  
“I’ll sleep later! We’ll be at the studio tomorrow after lunch and I wanna be well rested.” Kaoru gave back and then vanished off, leaving Kyo sighing silently.  
A last sneeze. Kyo snorted and shook his head, followed Kaoru to the bedroom.

DTS, reunited again, in the kitchen:

Two hours and one broken cup later (and two bottles wine and around a hundred heavy sighs from Shinya and some more stupid jokes) the batter was separated almost evenly and Shinya was allowed to finally pour in the food colouring drops while Die and Toshiya mixed the batter once again and they finally poured it into the prepared forms.  
With a last heavy sigh from all three of them, Toshiya put the forms into the oven and Die turned it on and set the timer on his phone for when the cake would be ready to get out. Until then they wanted to make some marzipan decoration by themselves. Buying marzipan roses and leaves was easy, Toshiya had challenged them, and now he had to join and show off if he was able to actually make one rose out of that sticky mass.

“Put your rings off please.” Shinya commanded, split up the marzipan in even pieces for each of them. They’d not only make coloured layers but make three tiers as they couldn’t agree on one flavour for the batter. So, Die had chosen citrus for his batter, Shinya stuck with vanilla and Toshiya had opted for rose and lavender, wanted to present his bandmates something exclusive.  
“No? Then I’m naked! Die, Shinya wants to get me naked!” Toshiya complained immediately and looked at his colleague in hopes he’d help him. But Die, he just shrugged his shoulder, didn’t even care to look at him as he already got started kneading his piece of marzipan to get started. He HAD to outdo Toshiya and Shinya, at least Toshiya. That Shinya was invincible anyway, was nothing Toshiya had to know, Die HAD to give his best.  
“You’re trained, why hide that body of yours now!” Shinya commented and also started kneading the sugary mass, watched how Die worked with it. He sure seemed very concentrated, much too concentrated for Shinya’s liking: “Die, you trained a lot too, recently, right?”  
“Ohhh…” Die lifted his head and looked up to the ceiling, felt cold sweat starting to build up on his skin, a chill ran down his spine. He had skipped today’s training as he was trying his best to make a perfect cake, that he’d eat tomorrow and tomorrow, he also wouldn’t train as it was his actual day off for rest. And he was drinking alcohol too, and he had so much exclusive food lately and –  
“Die!” Toshiya slapped his hand against the back of Die’s head, drew a loud moan from the guitarist: “What was that for!”  
“You were staring off.” – “I was thinking.” – “About what?” – “Lifting.” – “Weights?”  
Die sighed and let his hand come to a rest and looked at Toshiya, as if he had never in his life lifted weights: “I’m lifting my spirits.”  
Promptly Shinya snorted, kept occupying himself with the marzipan and finally Toshiya put off his rings and got his hands dirty too.

“Can we make music?” Toshiya was at loss. All his tries on getting one rose done were in vain it seemed. Where Shinya and Die had perfected creating tooth-rotting candy flowers Toshiya failed. The best he could make was a rosy coloured pig with four ears and a round bun as tail.  
“What genre would you prefer?” Shinya asked and got his sound system going. He was already finished with his parts, only Die and Toshiya were still messing around.  
“Rock!” Die blurted out and got a bump with the hip from Toshiya immediately.  
“You got some hip-hop?” Toshiya suggested and got a bump back, swayed along and came back with a bit more force. Die giggled, tried to get the rose look pretty although his efforts seemed to get disturbed.  
“Stop that!” Die hissed jokingly, kicked Toshiya with the knee to make him stop. But that only made it worse as he felt a too sticky finger poking his cheek.  
“You got something there!” Toshiya ducked his head as Die stroke at him with the kitchen towel, didn’t get him of course. But, what Die did get, where two finished roses that were now not so perfectly shaped anymore.  
“Oh come oooon!” Die groaned loudly and slapped the towel over Toshiya’s shoulder, took up the little creation and stared at it.  
“That was YOU!” Toshiya added one to it, made Die shoot him a dark glare. Pressing together the deformed roses, Die kneaded them again, supported himself on the counter.  
“Rock?” Shinya asked and got an immediate response: “Paper.” – “Scissor.”

“Even there you lose.” Die fluted as Toshiya realised that he had grandly lost in rock-paper-scissor when they weren’t even playing it for real.  
“That was unfair now! And you take up too much space!” Toshiya complained and elbowed Die back to his place. He had really started to spread himself generously on the kitchen counter after Shinya had finished and left the battlefield.  
“You’re such a bad looser!” Die huffed and took up his wine glass, downed it while staring at Toshiya. The bassist snorted amused, shrugged his shoulder: “I’m not losing to a second-rate musician!”  
“ExcUSE ME! What do you mean by that!” Die blurted. His hand clenched to a fist and landed on the counter with too much force. Shinya lifted one eyebrow, ready to intervene when needed.  
Anger roared up in Die and he knew even if this was just about Toshiya not managing to make stupid candy roses, he would not let him talk in such a disrespectful manner when it came to work.  
“Just sayin…” Toshiya shrugged his shoulder and occupied himself with the marzipan again, tried to make another pig. It was at least cute, if he couldn’t make such delicate things like flowers or leaves.  
Toshiya knew he had him hooked and there was no going back now. He wouldn’t give in and neither would Die. But one thing, Toshiya hadn’t taken fully in account – Die HAD trained, a lot, and he lifted, a lot apparently. With a swing that probably didn’t even cost him much strength, Die knocked Toshiya off his feet, put him on the floor.  
“DUDE!” and suddenly Die was over him, pressing him against Shinya’s cold tiled floor. A glare that would make every prisoner flinch back and fear for their dear life showed up on Die’s face. His eyes were glimmering from rage and also… hurt?  
“I am NOT a second-rate guitarist!” Die hissed back, pressed his lips shut again to not spill any more words, to hold back the sob that was stinging in his throat and was about to burst out. Why was he always getting so damn emotional when he was drinking?  
“What?!” Toshiya panted, got a grip on Die’s shoulder and threw him to the side, was not over him and tackling him down.  
“I didn’t say you are a bad guitarist! Just… I am number one!” Toshiya cawed, hadn’t thought his harmless joke could be so misunderstood.  
“Wh-what?” only a gasp, Die blinked away sneaky tears that had showed up much too fast.  
“My…” Toshiya sighed and then smiled at Die who was so confused all of a sudden. With a bit more gentleness he lifted one hand and cupped Die’s face, caressed his cheek before some tears started to leak from the corner of his eyes.  
“Don’t compare yourself to Kaoru! You two are so different, I could never put anyone of you two first or second!” Toshiya whispered, hoped that he was able to make Die calm down again. His chest was raising and sinking heavily, his hands trembled, were still holding on Toshiya’s shoulders.  
Behind them, Toshiya heard Shinya walking up, looking down at the two men that were almost at each other throat.  
“You’re forgetting that I am the MVP here because you two are idiots.” And with that said, Shinya walked past them and kneeled down at the oven. Scrambling their legs and arms and all their thoughts back together, Die sat up, gave Shinya’s back a confused stare. Toshiya squatted, supported himself on Die’s shoulder as he felt the alcohol doing its thing.  
“You turned on the light, but not the heat.” Shinya sighed and turned the knob further down. The oven gave off soft humming, what it hadn’t done before. Die hadn’t really wondered if it worked or not, Shinya had such expensive and new stuff that he wouldn’t have been surprised it nothing here would give off any sounds.  
“Don’t blame this on the alcohol!” Shinya pointed his finger at Die who gave him an apologetic smile. They had waited one hour in vain, the cake should be done in a few minutes actually, ready to cool down for further work.  
That was going to be a long night, it seemed.  
“Well, you’re not the best baker, but…” Toshiya squeezed Die’s shoulder to get his attention. Defeated he stared at his colleague, felt stupid now for getting so emotional.  
“You’re an amazing guitarist.” Leaning forward, Toshiya pressed a gentle kiss on Die’s forehead, smoothed out the frown between his eyebrows.  
“Now, stop being a sulky baby and help me with those stupid roses!” Toshiya put another kiss on Die’s forehead and grinned at him, spotted a half-hearted smile on Die’s lips now too.  
“You gotta EARN it! Prove that you lift and lift me up!” Die challenged Toshiya. That last time he had been lifted up by the bassist, he was too sleepy already to realise that he had placed him in the bed. And apart from that, he had been gone too fast.  
Now, Die slung his arms around Toshiya’s neck and they got up with a low “heave-ho” Toshiya absolutely not minding them holding onto each other a little longer. They blamed it on the alcohol, yeah.

“Did you actually buy some snacks too to go along with the alcohol?” Die asked, kept his eyes closed and unapologetically enjoyed the warm hug.  
“Hey, I am NOT the stupid one here!” Toshiya giggled and leaned against the counter, spied the one bag with all the decoration stuff. The reason why it really took him so long, Toshiya had a bit of a bad memory and walked up and down the candy aisle to find Die’s favourite snacks and then realised, that he in fact was the stupid, as Die preferred salty snacks over sweet ones.  
With one arm free he grabbed some pretzels, a glass of olives, chips and other crackers, a little tray with natto and a pot with wakame.  
“You not wanna let go?” Toshiya snorted softly as he felt the resistance. Shinya had passed them, patted Toshiya’s shoulder and muttered that it now was his turn to baby sit drunken-Die.  
Die gave off a displeased grumble, nudges his face against Toshiya’s chest and took a deep breath. It was much too cosy standing there like this and Die was a bit too drunk apparently to stand alone. He hadn’t realised how much he had downed until he moved so much and let his feelings get the better of him.  
“What? You prefer ME over some… fresh… and delicious wakame?”  
Somewhere in the back Shinya was getting plates and bowls ready, poured the olives out and provided some toothpicks. He had some cheese too somewhere in the fridge to go along.  
“Wakame you say…?” Die’s spirits awakened again at the mention of his favourite treat and he slowly lifted his head, glared around the kitchen.  
“OH MY GOD!” the calm and comfort was gone much too fast as Die twisted in Toshiya’s arms and stared into the oven.  
“What in GOD’S NAME!” Toshiya hissed and let go of Die, rushed over to the oven and opened the door to let the smoke out. Promptly the smoke alarm in Shinya’s flat went off and the drummer just sighed, said, that at least he had no sprinkler system because he was so not up to get wet now.

The cakes had DOUBLED in size and were pouring over the forms, dripping on the oven floor and overheating, leaving nasty black burnt blobs that were now dry and hard.  
“Too much baking powder I think. I knew I miscalculated something.” Shinya frowned and stared at the remnants that they were able to save. Toshiya poked one of the cake layers, got a pat on the back of his hand from Die, as if he was a little child.  
“So, what we do now?” Toshiya asked. The traffic was loud and noisy, made it hard to come up with a solution, but it was smelly and foggy in here and the stench of burnt carbs was absolutely unpleasing.  
“Hmm…” all three made, stared at the three forms as if they would magically give them an answer.

“How about…” Die started, chewed down on another olive that he got fed by Shinya. By now he was twisting his fingers and mending his frown. Hell, he was just a tad bit younger than Kaoru and he’d look ten years older than the leader by tomorrow morning if they wouldn’t figure out how to save this disaster.  
“We cut out a small portion from the middle part and taste it? And if it’s… still good, we fill it with something?” he had seen such things in some baking series and his sister had something like this for her wedding cake. It was cute and a little surprise when the cake was cut.  
“I got… M&M’s?” Toshiya frowned and pulled out a package from the snacks bag. Die nodded, gave Shinya a questioning glance: “It’s worth a try! Better find out if it’s still edible before we have the bad surprise tomorrow.”  
And so, the middle part got a little hole and they all took a bite to taste.  
“Can I be honest?” Toshiya asked as he gulped down the bite he had taken. It was a too big bite that he tried chewing down and the longer he kept chewing, the worse it got.  
“Ah, keep it. We need to drench it in alcohol and slather with icing!” Die groaned, made a gagging sound and washed down the bitter taste with what was still left in his wine glass.  
“It’s not that bad…” Shinya whispered, even though it was horrible. But, it wasn’t past remedy, so there was some silver lining at the horizon and so they gathered their last braincells to make it work out. Somehow.

The two pigs were looking down sadly, all knowing that this cake was a mess. And so were the three of them as they entered the studio room the next day, ready to present the three tier cake to the birthday duo.  
After surprisingly having caught some sleep, Die stealing the blanket as they had mutually decided it was for the better none drove their cars and Shinya had a guest room with a queen-sized bed anyway, they still looked too tired to face the day after their short holidays.  
Kyo, who already sat in the studio room and revised some parts, seemed calmer and more balanced than anticipated. Odd, for the fact that Kaoru was off with Takumi in the basement to get old amps up in their studio.

“Shouldn’t we wait for Kaoru?” Shinya whined as Kyo walked up with the knife, ready to destroy the cake. It looked so horrible, he was sure it tasted like that too. But he wanted to savour this moment, have it all to himself, to mock and laugh at his bandmates for really making a stupid birthday cake for them. Kaoru didn’t even LIKE cakes! Kyo would have to FORCE him to try one bite to find out how awful it would be.

And, Kyo was about to find out how very awful the cake really was.  
Stupidly silent the four of them sat around the plastic table they had for food and drinks. After Kaoru had gotten them one little rickety plastic table where they were allowed to eat in the studio room, sitting together was somehow impossible as there simply said wasn’t enough space. What was exactly the intention. Kaoru disliked food in the studio room but also didn’t want to be rude to his bandmates, so this very uncomfortable solution was his compromise.  
“Then, I shall thank you all for this generous contribution to celebrate another year passing by and me still looking flawless and young and fresh as ever!” Kyo fluted and took up a piece with his fork, waited for the others to do the same. With a last grin, he watched Shinya shoving down a bite, then, a stare to Toshiya who was still pressing his lips shut to not make any sound leave and no cake enter. Die, his mouth gaped open, closed again, his jaw worked, lips formed to a sloppy smile as he looked over to Kyo who waited.  
“Really good, right!” Toshiya pressed out, chewed on the tasteless stodge, gave Kyo a nod. Shinya hummed affirmative, had to sigh once again to force himself to gulp the mass in his mouth down.  
Kyo snorted silently over their reactions and then tasted it for himself.  
The burning feeling of too much baking powder was the first and actually only thing he tasted. It spread on his tongue immediately, stuck on the roof of his mouth. No amount of mint and chocolate icing would have helped here. The M&M’s and the fruit gum worms didn’t make it any better. By all means, the sugar hurt on the teeth and the nuts from the M&M’s were unpleasantly hard and crunchy in all that mush.  
With a gagging noise Kyo spat it out in his napkin and laughed heartedly: “It tasted like shit!”  
“TAKE THAT BACK!” Die blurted, was still fighting to down the first bite while Toshiya and Shinya gave their best to at least get the icing off the cake and make it seem as if it would get less on their plates.  
“No way! Come on, Die-chan! Be good and eat up!” Kyo mocked, laughed some more as he watched Toshiya having an internal fight over really bringing the fork to his mouth or stabbing what once had been a slice of cake. Kyo couldn’t help but take the fork and take up a bit and then, slash – it landed directly on Toshiya’s cheek!  
“YOU! You didn’t do that!” Toshiya gasped for air, and plop, there landed the next bit on his chest, dropped on his lap and stained his jeans.  
“YOU FUCKER!”  
Before Toshiya could get back at Kyo, Die got his back and landed a perfect hit directly in Kyo’s face. The chocolate icing stuck on his forehead, splattered nicely where once had been eyebrows. Toshiya got ready to get back at Kyo but there he felt Shinya’s finger, smearing some more icing directly on his cheek, giggling like a little girl next to him.  
“Betrayal!” Toshiya cawed, threw a piece at Kyo before he’d get back at Shinya. Die snickered some more, took up some M&M’s and aimed at Shinya’s cleavage, managed to down two pieces. Kyo though, he got some more of the generously used icing and kept hitting Toshiya and Die, got it all in Die’s hair even as he started complaining and calling out to stop, there was no end in sight and somehow they all knew it would end, when there was no cake left on the plate.  
Or – 

When it would land directly in Takumi’s face and spread itself nicely over his by now hip-long hair. The amp in his hand got some drops, almond splitters landed on the floor along with one poor gum-worm.  
For a second it was silent, dead silent. Kaoru could HEAR the almond splitters falling out of Takumi’s hair as he smiled gently, poised as ever, lifted his free hand and wiped off some of the icing from his glasses. At least, he wore glasses today, otherwise this would have ended pretty ugly.  
Kaoru kept silently standing next to Takumi, holding onto the cables and petals they wanted to set up today.  
Taking off his glasses, as it was in vain anyway and there was icing smeared all over them, Takumi huffed silently, arched his eyebrows as he realised how much cake and decoration stuck to his hair.  
“That’s… a nice surprise, for sure.” He sighed, handed Kaoru his glassed first, then, all still so poised and calm that even Kaoru feared for his life although he had nothing to do with all that mess, he put the amp on the floor, picked out a marzipan pig from his hair. Curiously, he lifted his finger and took up some icing from his cheek, licked over the tip of his fingers. And.  
And.  
And smiled.  
“I also would rather throw this away from me than put in my body.” He swallowed down that little bit of icing although everything in him screamed to just smear it on the sleeve of his jacket like some feral animal.  
“Who committed this crime?!” Kaoru glance pierced through Die’s back, the master of disaster. Then again, his problem child, Toshiya, seemed much too silent and stiff. And the one who sat put deceivingly innocent, Shinya, was not always as innocent as he liked to keep others believing of him.  
“My baking skills also don’t exceed any more than heating up frozen cinnamon buns, don’t worry!” Takumi waved it off, started picking out some more decoration. He would have to wash his hair very thoroughly today or by best go and see his hairdresser to make sure everything was out before he’d use heating to style them. He wasn’t really keen on burning marzipan or other chocolate decoration in his hair.  
“Nah, I mean which of you brats threw this!” Kaoru asked with a loud voice, glared at his bandmates. MATES, he really had considered calling them his friends, one of them he even called his partner.  
And exactly that one was the fiend, giggled lowly and started apologising for this little disaster.  
“Little disaster you call this…” Kaoru huffed out and walked up to the table. This was a thing of the past now. If they were misbehaving like that, then food would be banned as of now. Glaring down at Kyo, Kaoru had no words left, saw the big grin that caused Kyo’s cheeks to blush. With a heavy sigh Kaoru whispered that he could be glad he liked him, then turned around to grab for his phone to call the cleaning company. They wouldn’t be able to work in a room that was littered in crumbs and sticky icing.  
“Oh, thank you for LIKING me!” Kyo blurted out loud and almost dared to throw some last remnants after Kaoru. Gladly Die could snitch the fork from Kyo’s hand, hissed lowly that he shouldn’t anger the leader.  
Kaoru sat pouting with his phone, requested immediate cleaning and apologised a couple to Takumi already until he finally had all out and reassured Kaoru that it was all fine and he’d just do a spa-day and wash his hair very thoroughly.

All while Takumi packed up again, Kaoru felt like ripping them apart, and ripping apart per se, Die, Toshiya and Shinya couldn’t help but feel remorseful as their not-so-tasty cake caused such a ruckus.  
“I’ll get back at them for creating something so…” – “Disgusting?” – “Taste-bud offensing!”  
Takumi gave Kaoru a last smile and then, Kaoru hesitated, held him back for a second: “I think I got something.”

Three days, and another very alcohol-induced baking session at Die’s place later team DTS presented a prettier three tier cake, edible and even tasty, much closer to the original recipe and neither burnt nor too artificial. Instead of marzipan roses and little ugly pigs they gave in and bought a chocolate King Kong and put it on top of their ‘tower’. Much to Toshiya’s dismay there was no Godzilla but a stupid monkey was fine too, at least, Kyo liked it and Kaoru wasn’t angry at them.  
The leader actually tried a bit after Kyo had taken a second slice and they had all mutually decided to never ever bake a cake again.

At the end of the day, as all lights in the studio had already been turned off, the doors were all closed to the office rooms, the porter got handed a box with a little note, to put it in the studio room. And then, finally all could find some well deserved rest.

*

PREVIEW  
Up next: [ Schödinger’s box ]  
A mysterious box appears in the studio room. The sender? No name, but there is an address that leads team DTS to an old warehouse. Before checking the contents of the box, the team wants to find out, who the sender is. After all, it could be something illegal or dangerous?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If there’s Japanese-speaking readers here, I’d have a question about the “heave-ho” – as English also isn’t my mother tongue, we have a different word for this and I had a bit of a mental block to figure out how to describe/translate this, thus, how to look it up for English. Like, when lifting up a child, you usually say this as kind of indicator that the lifting-up process is happening. I found the expression どっこい (dokkoi) – an onomatopoeia. Would that be the fitting expression?


End file.
